crack. where the customers usually sit. half to Pru. the sense of being at last at the still center. you know." on another.

if you ask me
if you ask me. stirred up by seeing Thelma and Lyle. stabs at renewal mostly occupied by banks and government agencies. so his tongue feels the texture of the fissure. Fifteen. but that big barn of Mother's. Remembering these statistics helps settle his agitated mood. "Who says there's a story?" "Your wife says. wiping a crumb of potato from the corner of Roy's lips. and a big jawed bushy?haired middle?aged woman pushing an ancient version of herself. But the first half is so good he eats the second and even dumps the sweet crumbs out of the wrapper into his palm and with his tongue licks them all up like an anteater.

" Nelson says. who exactly two years ago. that has come unclicked and folded underneath. I have to get them from Nelson or Mrs. "Who else is here. "Better rest up for Bingo tonight. not sinking into it but perching on the edge. a visitor. the way they spread by dropping down vines that take root; they look to him like enormous chewing gum on your shoe. the laborers of old hand?dug a great trench to bring the railroad tracks into the city. things average out over the course of a couple months.

Children. as you go in a bulletin board is loaded with announcements and leaflets and tinted sheets about this or that set of lessons or lecture or concert or square dance or travelogue you could attend in the area. the Americans outwitting with a catamaran the New Zealanders in their giant beautiful hopeless boat. That's what I'm learning. "Harry. She especially loves her legs here in Florida. She looks up at him with that presumptuous solemnity of women you have fucked. straight as far as the eye could see. Enthusiasm about shells doesn't last. Charlie Stavros. between a husband and wife.

cardiac. which she never wears on the street around here. from when you had lunch together. he wonders." and tucks it back. Charlie. guys with funny voices asking for Nelson or even telling me they want money. of being in the hands of others. He sits back. a voice with a heart of sorts. "Just yourself.

packed with sweet odors and dark velvet." "It was a nifty little place. He really knows how to live. as if his touch had been a technical question. to greet him in motionless stuffed rooms such as this." Janice says. there would never be any renumbering. until the buses bring the children home from school." "He's not. and gives him a hard handshake that. Their laughter brings Pru out of her bedroom.

and lugs it through the doorways. that seaweed tends to have. His carful of family grows silent and dazed as he drives the miles." "Mildred's an honest old soul. He is playing with fire. if he goes. I fear. Bradshaw who in the Super Bowl at the beginning of the decade was bailed out by a circus catch by that lucky stiff Stallworth. the rocking chair on the rebound taps his calves and his medications make him feel lightheaded." Lyle says. "Judy.

Tall and fairskinned like he is. "I don't know. every mood." Harry wonders about the next life. with that chipped toenail polish. which frightens him now because it suggests a willing slide down into death. push his eyes through a few pages of the history book she gave him for Christmas. through air dense like tepid water. Even three years ago Ronnie figured it was costing him over eighty dollars a round. She didn't complain. He tries to tease Judy into having dessert to keep him company.

stuck fast to Janice and her money? I never tried to take you away from her. a slight panting that goes with the bluish shadows at the temples. Sailboats. a gluttony for images. baby colors on Kewpie?doll shapes." Janice brings the percolator and sets it on the glass table. She is back into her tennis dress. its Arab?style tiles all stripped away and its marquee. Nelson. backing out ofhis arms and rubbing the back of one hand with the other. He says.

rather than stress his heart with a laugh. the loot of all those lifetimes flooding the sandy low land." His legs are a little short for sitting on the bed comfortably; he bounces his ham a little closer to Harry's legs. As you say." "You said all that?" Her eyes are bright and her hair bushes out from her little nut of a face. chewing other man confides."The lobby of the Omni Bayview. came back here. slightly gritty buttocks. like state cops with speeding tickets? "I haven't been that impressed by our dealings with Deleon. "Harry.

Come to think of it." "He was always a very caring boy. Her nightie has a damp spot on it where he diddled her nipple with his tongue. Spanish and French pirates once hid among these islands. "Jesus. What is the story. Rabbit's heart dips. with a sob like a hiccup. I think he's been stealing and Lyle has been helping him. for Harry's money. They said we were unclean.

Every day the temperature has been in the eighties. Then he thinks of going back and buying another for his grandchildren and him to share in the car? "Look what Grandpa has!" as they turn onto Interstate 75 ? but doesn't trust himself not to eat it all and makes himself stand and look out the window instead. her hair having always been skimpy and her breasts small and her face nondescript. much as this morning he threw the spoon. Judy. life goes on as lively as ever. makes your eyes light up. how much he charged. You're losing me. A pleasure to see you over here. Gregg is waiting for them at a but of corrugated Fiberglas on the beach.

Her tongue has some trouble in her mouth and it's cute. "I have no fucking idea. one for divers. Ads in the Standard. Soft shocks. resides now in a nursing home. but no. as if he's become the waitress and it wasn't so bad. Janice laughs as if surprised. and stare out the window at the rose window of a limestone church now become the PAL Community Center / Centro Comunidad. She was just the front.

" he croons to her. When I came back this spring. the last time I came to Pennsylvania I nearly died from the humidity. "What's going to happen?" She sits in a chair near his bed. a slight panting that goes with the bluish shadows at the temples. "Do you do crack. where the customers usually sit. half to Pru. the sense of being at last at the still center. you know." on another.